Absorbent articles such as infant diapers, training pants, sanitary napkins, adult incontinence products and the like are well known. Such articles have achieved a wide acceptance due to their ability to absorb body exudates without leaking. In order to achieve a high degree of leakage protection, it has become increasingly common to rely on systems wherein numerous components cooperate. For example, in the case of infant diapers, urine is generally absorbed by an absorbent core comprising a matrix of wood pulp fluff and superabsorbent material. Such an absorbent core is known to be particularly well suited for absorbing and holding urine in a diaper structure. Unfortunately, it is not always possible for the absorbent core to absorb and hold urine at the rate at which it is delivered. Thus, it has become increasingly common to rely on various mechanical containment means to hold urine within the diaper until it can be absorbed and held by the absorbent core.
For example, it is well known to those skilled in the art to provide elasticized leg cuffs along the leg openings of a diaper. The leg cuffs are said to assist in the containment of body exudates. Similarly, it is well known to those skilled in the art to use waist elastics in a diaper to obtain a tighter seal about the waist of a wearer. The waist elastics also contribute to the mechanical containment of body exudates.
In an attempt to improve the mechanical containment of body exudates, it is also known to employ a pair of containment flaps along the longitudinal sides of absorbent articles such as infant diapers, training pants, sanitary napkins, adult incontinence products and the like. The containment flaps are generally thought to be particularly well suited for the containment of fecal matter and the prevention of lateral flow of liquid waste until the liquid waste can be absorbed by the absorbent article. Elasticized leg cuffs are often used in conjunction with the containment flaps to help contain body exudates. Further, the shape of the user's legs in relation to the product has shown that elasticized leg cuffs that are curved may provide benefits in containment as well as comfort of the product.
Absorbent articles are generally produced in a continuous process, in which a web of material, that normally forms the backsheet or other layer of the article, travels continuously through the process line in successive stages, which include the application of absorbent bodies and the application of further surface sheets or layers and elastic elements. The individual articles are cut from the continuous composite web in the final stages of such a process. The elastic elements are most often mounted in a pre-stretched state, i.e. have been stretched from a rest state to which they strive to return. So that the pre-stretched elastic elements will not contract and therewith gather together or pucker the material to which they are fastened, the elastic elements are maintained in a stretched state until the final stages of the manufacturing process. This can be readily achieved with elastic elements that extend the full length of the article in the movement direction of the process line. However, in the case of elastic elements that are active over only a part of the length of the article in the movement direction, a problem arises in retaining the elements in a pre-stretched state without complicating the process and/or without mounting functionally inactive parts of elastic elements on the web in the article manufacturing process.
Accordingly, there is a need for a process for making curved intermittent elastics that are aesthetically pleasing and can be applied in a high-speed application.